Just had an e-mail from Dane after pointing her in the direction of the thread and she has this to say about this pic:

"I love that photo of me, where I am putting something into the little top pocket of my leathers. I was standing in the back of the URS truck at a race when we went there together with Helmut Fath, as Rudi had built the chassis and fairings of the new URS."

"Hey Rod
I just signed up to that forum to say thankyou for the pix and the nice things they wrote but it won't let me reply, even though I am logged in. Perhaps you need x number of other postings in other sections before you can reply to a thread or something.
So could you say thankyou from me ?

Ah, I can post at last - thought I'd been barred before I'd begun Ooooh I DO dislike that last colour pic of me. The helmet looks absolutely huge..

Anyway, thanks for all the posts here, it's nice to be remembered And thanks to Yendor for acting as middleman.

One of our outfits (in the collection of a good friend of ours in the USA who is also a member of this forum I believe) was at a show / concours last year. Don't know whether links are allowed here so I'll add it as code...no, there's no link to add code so I'll add it as a quote:

Originally posted by Russell Burrows Paying homage to the beautiful Dane....what better reason for starting a thread?

Hi Dane and welcome ,and thanks Russell for starting this thread.Suddenly I am a young lad again,watching the CAT go round the Elbow at Mallory like nothing else I ever saw.Citroen DS Combi with the CAT on the roof;thats different too.HW

Nice thread Russell. Rudi designed(built?) the first Scheidegger kneeler and I emailed Dane about this and she was going to look for the plans but it appears they are not around.Saw Fritz and Robinson on it at Brands one practice day.John lived near me then in Croydon used to pass his house on the way to work sometims a van with swiss plates outside.

Originally posted by Bernard Nice thread Russell. Rudi designed(built?) the first Scheidegger kneeler and I emailed Dane about this and she was going to look for the plans but it appears they are not around.Saw Fritz and Robinson on it at Brands one practice day.John lived near me then in Croydon used to pass his house on the way to work sometims a van with swiss plates outside.

Didn't know that Bernard - interesting. On an unrelated issue, have you previously written something about Biggin Hill as a bike racing circuit, or am I imagining things - again?

Yes I did back in the mists of time,found a poster that is in this Forum archives somewhere.Went to one meeting and as you were posting on another thread about Crystal Palace just now, many of the regulars rode at Biggin Hill. Its a long time ago now but I do recall Ned Minihan winning the 500 race(I wonder if he is still with us).As we are talking about sidecars in this thread (Dane is lovely but I was always a fan of Aga Neumann) I see Arsenius Butscher who she passengered for is 80 this year. As I said Paul it was a very long time ago...

Yes I did back in the mists of time,found a poster that is in this Forum archives somewhere.Went to one meeting and as you were posting on another thread about Crystal Palace just now, many of the regulars rode at Biggin Hill. Its a long time ago now but I do recall Ned Minihan winning the 500 race(I wonder if he is still with us).As we are talking about sidecars in this thread (Dane is lovely but I was always a fan of Aga Neumann) I see Arsenius Butscher who she passengered for is 80 this year. As I said Paul it was a very long time ago...

Hi Bernard, I never got to Biggin Hill so long since been intrigued by it. Somehow setting out a motorcyle racing circuit on an old WW2 aeroodrome in outer suburban London seems to me very much of its time. Arsenius Butscher ! Not Colin Seeley's favourite person; in his book he credits 'this crazy German' with crashing into him at Spa on the high speed appraoch to Stavelot, puncturing his tyre, almost causing a multiple pile up and finally, putting him out of the race. Apparently, Seeley's offical protest, which was supported by Pip Harris and Jack Ahearn ! ,was not upheld........

"The R.A.F were the landlords of the Saltbox field and it was to them that we were indebted for its use. Our contact with them led to us becoming more ambitious with thoughts of extending our activities to motorcycle road racing on the aerodrome. This was quite an undertaking for a club with only moderate resources. Once the request was made to the R.A.F. they were surprisingly helpful. We met the appropriate officer at the control tower and he indicated that we could have the use of the perimeter track and that part of the main runway that lay behind Leaves Green. For those of you familiar with the area, that is roughly from the Kings Arms to the Crown pub. The entrance to the circuit was to be Milking Lane which pre-war went from the Kings Arms to Downe village via a section of Downe Golf Course. This lane became a dead end when the airfield extension was made.

With the help of a couple of our road racing members and in particular Gerry Seward (who four years later was to be tragically killed at Mallory Park) we decided on the layout of the course using the perimeter track and a few hundred yards of the main runway. Here we worked out a chicane, which on the day was to be composed of a multitude of yellow painted oil drums.

The usual formalities followed by applying to the ACU for inspection and approval of the prepared circuit. Angus Herbert, a well known and successful grass track and road racer of the pre-war and post-war periods, inspected the mile of tarmac and concrete. He gave us some helpful safety hints and advising the use of truckfulls of straw bales etc. One unexpected snag proved to be with insurance, because of the flying club at the other end of the drome. The ACU insisted that no racing could take place unless we could persuade them not to fly. However a compromise was reached and the flying club made an early take off and went to the continent!!

With official permission obtained, ensured that the hard work started. Our advertising in the various motorcycling journals attracted marshals, some of whom became members. Bill Knight (who still is a member) became a tower of strength in the years to come. A date in June was first applied for, to be followed by an August one. Subsequently we managed to get a third date in October, which enabled us to balance the books. Publishing the Regs and entry forms brought some surprising and very encouraging results. Names such as A. Minter, P. Read, W. Boddice and Ginger Payne promised some interesting racing and hopefully a good turnout of spectators.

The hardest part was yet to follow. The grass surrounding the perimeter track had been allowed to grow to produce a hay crop. This was to be cut, we hoped, before the first meeting. This was done at the last moment and we literally had to follow the tractor and collect the bales, which we then hired instead of straw bales. A last minute problem was driving the stakes into the deep layer of ballast on which the grass was growing. However we just managed it and the first meeting took place, I believe, on the 21st June 1959.

Our thanks go to all the racers, they provided some good entertainment and proved to be reasonably safe. I can only remember one fairly major injury and that was to Frank Perrin who broke his collarbone. The ambulances were kept far busier at our scrambles meetings. Although we managed to run three meetings, the Leaves Green residents soon put paid to our running any further meetings the following year. It seems they preferred the sounds of friendly yet hostile aero-engines. The club had not only gained some prestige and experience, but also some more rope, a few hundred yards of chestnut fencing and hundreds of plastic lampshades. I also regained the use of my dining room, which had been my office for the past six months."

Originally posted by exclubracer Does anyone know what Rudi and Dane are up to nowadays?

BTW, I'd HATE to see this post drop of the board....

I met Rudi at the Race Retro event last weekend. At the moment he appears to be involved in Hi-Tech bicycles andthings aeronautical to name but two. Dane is involved in numismatics I think is the word; anyway it's to do with identifying ancient coinsin her case Greek and Roman.